5 Best Destinations You Can Visit on a Carnival Cruise Line

news7g11/21/2022

4 7 minutes read

Some travel routes offer trips anywhere in the world. Others are more focused on where they operate.

Festival cruise lineone of the biggest yacht brands in the world, certainly in second place.

The festival is all about relatively short, affordable excursions from US ports. You’ll find at least one of their ships sailing out of most major port cities around the country, but it’s rare to find them anywhere else.

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Catering heavily to budget travelers arriving by car, Carnival rarely offers trips in Europe, Asia and South America – destinations that are integral to the schedules of rival lines such as Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruise and Netherlands USA.

However, Carnival is the undisputed leader in cruises from U.S. ports to the Caribbean and Bahamas, with a range of trips to the region from ports on the East Coast. and along the Gulf of Mexico.

Some of Carnival’s East Coast-based ships also sail to Bermuda, New England and Canada. For West Coast-based Carnival ships, voyages to Mexico, Hawaii and alaska is the standard.

Carnival also offers several Panama Canal rides.

The overarching idea for Carnival’s ship deployment is that a large percentage of the US population can reach one of its ships by car, saving on the cost of flights. For that reason, deploying ships across the United States requires a much broader approach than other routes.

Carnival’s biggest activities are over Port of Miami and Port Canaveral In Florida; Galveston, Texas; Long Beach, California; and New Orleans – all major cruise centers. You’ll also find Carnival ships in secondary cruise ship ports like Baltimore; Charleston, South Carolina; Cell Phones, Alabama; and Jacksonville, Florida.

For the most part, Carnival ships make relatively short voyages of three to eight nights.

Here’s our take on the five best places the carnival sails.

The Caribbean and the Bahamas

Carnival’s newest and largest ship, the Mardi Gras, sets sail in the Caribbean. CARNIVAL FLAVOR

Carnival is, quite simply, the king of Caribbean and Bahamas cruises. If you’re looking for a quick, easy and – perhaps most important – affordable cruise getaway to the area, then Carnival is your pick.

Carnival currently has 21 of 24 ships scheduled to sail to the Caribbean and Bahamas for at least part of next year, including its newest and largest, 5,282-passenger ships. Mardi Gras and sister ship Carnival.

In a word, it is the number of ships more than the number of ships present in the entire fleet Norwegian Cruise Lineitself is a major player in Caribbean cruises.

Carnival offers a wide range of Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries from no less than 12 US ports.

If you’re looking for something short-term, this line will cover you in the form of quick three- to five-night trips to the Caribbean and Bahamas from Florida ports like Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Port Canaveral, as well as from Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans; and Galveston, Texas.

From ports to the east, these itineraries often focus on stops in the Bahamas and Grand Turk Island. From Gulf ports, they often focus heavily on ports in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, including Cozumel and Progreso.

Carnival also has a large market for six- to eight-night trips to Caribbean and Bahamas ports, divided into three broad categories:

East Caribbean Trip.
West Caribbean Trip.
South Caribbean Trip.

A typical seven-night Carnival sailing to the Eastern Caribbean includes stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Amber Bay, Dominican Republic; and the Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos.

However, each Carnival’s six to eight-night Eastern Caribbean cruise is a little different. Usually there are three and sometimes four calls on these Eastern Caribbean excursions.

Carnival’s six to eight-night Western Caribbean trips will typically include three or four stops in some combination of these: Mexico (Cozumel and Costa Maya), Honduras, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Belize.

The service’s South Caribbean itineraries — typically eight nights long — will typically include visits to Aruba and Curaçao, as well as one or more northern Caribbean ports such as Amber Bay in the Dominican Republic.

Carnival also offers some longer rides, ranging from 10 to 14 nights in the Caribbean, but not many.

Mexican coast

4,008 Carnival Panorama passengers sailed to Mexico out of Long Beach, California. CARNIVAL FLAVOR

Carnival is one of the leaders in excursions to the Mexican Coast – the chain of resort towns that run along the west coast of Mexico.

Carnival operates cruises to the west coast of Mexico from the California ports of Long Beach and San Francisco, with Long Beach being the main West Coast hub.

Notably, Carnival is the only cruise line for ships based in Long Beach year-round for trips to Mexico. One of the line’s newest trains, 4,008 passengers Festival panorama, is based year-round in Long Beach for seven-night Mexican Riviera trips. The smaller Carnival Radiance, carrying 2,764 passengers, operates three- and four-night trips from Long Beach year-round to Mexico.

A third Carnival ship, the Carnival Miracle carries 2,124 passengers, operates four- and five-night cruises to Mexico out of Long Beach seasonally and also offers a number of cruises on the Mexican Riviera beyond San Francisco.

The typical seven-night Festival trip to the Mexican Coast will stop at Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta.

The three- and four-night Festival trips to Mexico’s west coast typically include a single Mexican stop in Ensenada, as well as occasional stops at Catalina Island off the California coast.

alaska

Carnival isn’t the biggest player in Alaska cruises. The travel giants to Alaska are Princess Cruise and Netherlands USA, are sister cars with Carnival controlling the majority of the market. However, in recent years, Carnival has sent more ships to Alaska than before, and by 2023 it plans to send three ships to their destination.

The affordable, fun-focused ships of the Carnival are a popular choice with families looking to visit Alaska during the short Alaska cruise season, which lasts roughly May through September.

In 2023, Carnival plans to deploy the following ships to the Alaskan market:

Luminosa Festival: The 14-year-old ship will primarily be operating seven-night trips to Alaska round-trip out of Seattle. Most departures will stop at Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan, Alaska; and Victoria, British Columbia. It will also visit the Tracy Arm fjord in Alaska to see the glacier. Some cruises have a slightly different port number.
Magic Festival: The 19-year-old ship will primarily operate 10-night trips to Alaska round-trip out of San Francisco. It will call at Skagway, Juneau, Icy Strait Point in Alaska; and Victoria, British Columbia. It will also visit the Tracy Arm to see the glacier.
Festival spirit: The 12-year-old ship will operate seven-night trips to Alaska round-trip from Seattle. It will call at Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan, Alaska; and Victoria, British Columbia. It will also visit the Tracy Arm to see the glacier.

Unlike some routes such as Princess, Holland America, and Royal Caribbean, Carnival does not offer Alaskan “cruises” that combine an Alaska cruise with multiple days of land sightseeing.

Bermuda

At least a few Carnival ships usually sail to Bermuda every year from May to October.

Although the service does not offer a large number of departures from Bermuda, it typically operates Bermuda voyages out of at least three ports each year: New York, Baltimore, and Norfolk, Virginia.

Most trips last six nights and include two days in Bermuda. This route also often offers some shorter four- and five-night Bermuda trips and, occasionally, a longer seven-night Bermuda trip.

Note that shorter Bermuda trips can provide very little time in the country, sometimes as little as eight hours.

The upcoming summer of 2023 will bring sailings to Bermuda on three Carnival ships: the 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic, 2,124-passenger Carnival Legend and 4,208-passenger Carnival Venezia. The second ship is the Costa Cruises The carnival will start operating in the summer of 2023. Costa is a sister line to Carnival with similarly designed ships.

Australia

The Carnival Spirit, carrying 2,124 passengers, departed from Sydney Harbour. JAMES D. MORGAN/GETTY IMAGES FOR CARNIVAL TOURISM

Carnival might be all about cruises from US ports. However, not all of its ships are always based in North America.

In what appears to be an unusual diversion to a line known by its short, accessible name, affordable trip As for Americans, in recent years Carnival has deployed two of its ships to Australia to make trips from Sydney and Brisbane.

The two ships — the most recent being the Carnival Spirit carrying 2,124 passengers and the Carnival Splendor carrying 3,012 passengers — typically do a combination of three- to 10-night voyages along the Australian coast and to New Zealand.

Next year, the service will also feature the 2,260-passenger Carnival Luminosa based in Australia. This ship is an old Costa Cruises ship that has just joined the Carnival fleet.

Carnival’s Australia trips, notably, aren’t really aimed at Americans. They target Australians. A few years ago, Carnival discovered that Australians love the types of fun, affordable cruises they offer just as much as Americans do, and they set out to build a business. in Australia to serve them.

That’s not to say an American can’t book one of the rides.

The typical festival itinerary along the Australian coast includes stops at Airlie Beach, Cairns and Willis Island. Some longer trips to Australia have stops at Port Douglas or Moreton Island.

Shorter trips in Australia may stop at just one of the above destinations or even no stops at all – the so-called ‘journey to nowhere’.